Chapter 12
Marco carried Visser Three's unconscious body far enough into the woods that we couldn't see the limo or the highway. We found a thick cluster of trees and began to morph.
First, Marco and I held Visser Three face down in the mud so he wouldn't see Cassie and Hannah pass through their human forms.
After demorphing, Cassie went into her polar bear morph and Hannah used her leopard morph.
Once the morph was complete, Cassie took her turn to hold down the Visser.
Marco demorphed while I waited patiently.
Once Marco was human, he began to morph horse.
And I began to morph Yeerk.
A minute and a half later, I was a blind, defenseless slug.
My Yeerk senses detected an ear canal. I got to work forcing my way inside.
{What is the meaning of this?!} a voice demanded.
I realized it was Visser Three. Only it wasn't public thought-speak like the Visser usually preferred. It was only in my head.
Visser Three's head?
Our head?
{Ax? How's it going?} Cassie asked privately.
{Good,} I answered using the thought-speak that came with the Yeerk morph. {You can let me up now.}
{An Andalite morphing a Yeerk?} Visser Three taunted. {Inconceivable!}
{Not nearly as bad as a Yeerk infesting an Andalite,} I responded.
I felt the pressure off my back…our back?...lift.
I fired my Yeerk nerves into the Visser's brain and stood up.
Suddenly, I felt aware of a powerful urge. The Visser was trying to demorph.
I clamped down as hard as I could on the morphing part of the brain.
My face contorted in effort.
Nothing changed.
{Ax? You alright?} Hannah inquired.
{I'm fine,} I responded. {The Visser tried to demorph, but I have it under control.}
Realizing his failure to demorph, I felt a small twinge of a new emotion creep up from our shared brain.
Fear.
{What game are you playing, Andalite?} the Visser asked.
I didn't bother responding. I searched the Visser's brain for a new piece of information.
{Visser Three has an hour and twenty three minutes left in morph,} I told the others. {Let's get going.}
I climbed onto Marco's back and we were off.
Hannah was about 100 feet ahead, scouting out a safe route. Cassie stayed by my side in case we got ambushed.
I was seeing Alloran's memory, of course. But everything the Visser had done with Alloran's body, Alloran had witnessed.
I used the time to search through Visser Three's library of morphs, hoping to find something useful.
Luminar. Dule Fansa. Lebtin Javelin fish. Kafit bird. Hork-Bajir. Cameleotacean. Bievilerd. Lerdethak. Vanarx. Mardrut. Aria. Anteater. Flatoderousian. Taxxon. Octovelico. Jubba-Jubba.
Antarean Bogg…
Upon thinking of that name, a new memory surfaced. w
Elfangor. Being lifted high into the air. Striking again and again, each strike doing precious little against the monster.
The elation Visser Three felt at seeing the terror in my brother's eyes.
Opening his mouth, and then releasing his grip on my brother.
Falling…
And then, the worst part.
Visser Three tasted my brother's flesh.
And he tasted good.
At the very end, Elfangor cried out.
A scream of pain and terror, which was then silenced too suddenly.
The cry shook me to my very core.
I guess I must have let an emotion slip through to Visser Three, because the next thing I knew, he was taunting me.
{Hahaha, you like my Antarean Bogg morph, Andalite?}
I felt myself shaking with rage.
{You killed an innocent prisoner,} I accused. {A helpless, wounded prisoner of war.}
{I did,} Visser Three gloated. {He deserved so much worse.}
I tried to ignore the Visser and focus on gathering more information.
I fed Marco and Cassie the location of every Yeerk pool entrance.
Every plan the Yeerks had.
Names of controllers.
Quantity of ships, hosts of each species, weapons.
But it took so much longer than anticipated.
I realized that Visser Three could think of a memory and it would surface, and I would be forced to watch it too.
Maybe it was because Esplin 9466 was a more experienced Yeerk than me.
Perhaps I was simply too distracted.
But I was forced to watch, again and again, Visser Three's despicable deeds.
Tobias being tortured. Not that the Visser knew it was Tobias, of course.
Elfangor dying again and again.
Visser Three torturing an innocent snake, believing it to be Marco in morph.
Dozens of subordinates butchered for inconsequential errors.
Andalite fighters being destroyed in space, including several Andalites who were sucked out into space, where their legs kicked frantically, before they stopped moving.
The general culture of fear Visser Three's leadership had created.
Unspeakable medical experiments being performed on Hork-Bajir, trying to make them able to breathe underwater.
And that was just the tip of the iceberg.
{You feel disgust at my activities, Andalite?} Visser Three taunted.
{You are a monster,} I responded. {You hide behind your status of being the only Andalite controller, and use it to bully the people who are supposed to be helping you. The people who are supposed to look up to you, admire you.}
The Visser laughed. {And yet, I remain the only Andalite controller, to this day. Although I'm sure it won't be long before several more join me.}
{You're wrong,} I snapped. {And after an hour and eight minutes, there will be no more Andalite controllers.}
{Ah, so that's the plan, huh? Make me a Nothlit? That just means Alloran will never be free.}
{Scared, Yeerk?} I sneered.
{Hardly,} the Visser responded, and I felt the truth in his words. {I wasn't going to be an Andalite controller much longer, anyway.}
{What are you talking about?} I demanded.
{Search my mind, Andalite. Use your morph. That makes me wonder, how did you get a Yeerk morph? One of my subordinates?}
Foolish of me to ask questions. Foolish, when I could simply peer into his mind and know everything I could ever want to know.
I reached into the darkest corner of Visser Three's mind. And I watched the conversation take place.
"Your failure has gone on for far too long, Visser Three," the Hork-Bajir council member said. "We are sending a replacement."
{A replacement?!} The Visser roared. {I was told I would be pardoned if I took earth!}
"No," The Hork-Bajir said. "You were only given time because we had nobody left to replace you. And now we no longer have that problem."
{You can't replace me!} Visser Three snarled. {Give me more time!}
"You've had plenty of time. Years even. You have failed to give us Earth. Let me remind you that this planet is the key to the Yeerks winning the war!"
{I'm working on it!} Visser Three screamed. {You don't understand! There are nearly eight billion humans! And the Andalite bandits…}
"Silence!" Roared the Hork-Bajir. "A handful of Andalites are irrelevant on a large scale. Look at all the other planets we've taken! Hundreds, thousands of Andalites have tried to stop us and failed. And you let a half-dozen set us back years!"
{But…}
"No more excuses! In two weeks, a new Visser will arrive. You will be relieved of duty. You will be forced to exit your host and that Andalite body will be given to a more competent Yeerk. You will be reduced in rank. You will be given a new host: a Gedd."
The ultimate insult. Visser Three didn't respond, but I could feel the memory of his fury eroding his last shred of patience.
The Hork-Bajir council member continued. "And don't even think about running away. Yeerks loyal to us have already planted tracking devices in your blade ship, as well as in the body of your Andalite host while you were feeding. Understood?"
{Yes, council member,} Visser Three murmured.
"Good. Try not to make the situation any worse during these last two weeks, Esplin 9466."
The hologram shimmered and disappeared.
Calling him Esplin was just another jab at the Visser.
I felt the Visser's uncontrollable rage as he finally snapped, slamming his tail blade into a wall.
{And what did you decide, abomination?} I inquired. I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him say it.
{Several options,} he admitted. {I'm sure you already know and are stalling, but I'll tell you anyway. First option: nothlit myself as a human or Hork-Bajir. Or: try to make a deal with you, Andalite bandit. I know you somehow bypassed the 2 hour time limit, thanks to your friend's bird morph.}
{Absolutely not,} I responded. {You are in no position to make demands, Yeerk. What could you offer us that we do not already have by seeing inside your head?}
{Good point, I admit.} Visser Three mused. {I didn't anticipate Andalites stooping to this low of a level. But now that you are here, the answer: nothing. Perhaps my morph library could be of use to you, but I know there's no way you will trust me.}
{You know us too well,} I teased. {But we also know you. You don't want to give up your host. You have the mindset of, 'If I can't have it, nobody can.' You'll never give up control of Alloran, even though you know it'll help the Yeerks. You want the notoriety of being the first and only Andalite controller all to yourself. Because your ego is more important to you than the overall war effort.}
Visser Three remained silent. He considered what I'd said to him. And deep down, he knew I was right.
{I guess you'll have to kill me,} he said at last.
{Not yet,} I replied solemnly. {Your brain can still be of some use to us.}
And I delved deeper into the mind of the Abomination.
{Ax? How is it going in there?} Marco asked.
I jumped. I had been so focused I hadn't even been paying attention to my surroundings.
Marco, Cassie, and Hannah were by my side. At some point, Rachel had caught up with us and I hadn't even noticed.
I wondered how Prince Jake, Jordan, and Tobias were doing.
{Going fine,} I said. {There are a lot of interesting memories.}
I quickly summarized what I had learned so far.
{Interesting. Who is this new Visser?} Hannah wondered.
{Visser Three doesn't know,} I answered.
{You've stopped searching my mind, Andalite,} Visser Three observed. {Having a private conversation with your friends?}
{None of your business, Yeerk,} I snapped.
I must have angered him. Because he called up the memory of Elfangor's dying scream once again. I shuddered.
{You don't like that, Andalite?} he sneered. {Too personal?}
{I don't like watching anyone die,} I said. {Especially not a fellow Andalite.}
{Of course not, but with Elfangor I feel a particularly strong sense of anger. Was he special to you?}
I decided there was no point denying it. {He was my brother.}
{Ha ha! Your brother! Let me tell you, your brother could fight. He was a worthy adversary. A bit sentimental at times, but it was an honor to face him in battle. And an even greater honor to be the one to finish him off. He was delicious.}
I felt myself shaking with rage.
Shaking so bad I could barely speak.
{You will regret the day you were born, Yeerk.}
{We will see.}
{Tick tock, Yeerk. Thirty-nine minutes.}
I felt the realization that he would soon be a human nothlit. And at the mention of the word human, another memory surfaced.
"Visser, we observed two humans morphing in the pool." a human controller said.
The Visser was in the Yeerk pool, surrounded by controllers of all types. There were dozens of dead controllers strewn across the floor.
{Humans? Morphing? Surely you are mistaken. Humans cannot morph. Only Andalites can morph.} Visser Three berated the controller.
"No, Visser. One of them morphed directly to an Earth creature called a grizzly bear, while another morphed a tiger. There was an Andalite present as well, but there were definitely two humans morphing."
Other human controllers nodded in agreement.
{Did you get their identities?}
"No, Visser. We know they are probably teenagers based on their height, but they were covered in Taxxon guts, they somehow burst out of a Taxxon…"
{Fool! They were Andalites!}
"But, Visser…"
FWAAP!
The human controller's head rolled across the floor.
{That is what you get for arguing with me, scum! Humans cannot morph! Does anyone else have a problem with this?} Visser Three roared.
Visser Three looked at the crowd. The other controllers carefully avoided eye contact.
{Good! That's what I thought. Now! Clean up this mess!} The Visser waved his hand at the carnage.
The controllers bumped into each other in their rush to obey their mad leader.
As Visser Three walked back to his quarters, I could hear what he thought at the time.
Humans morphing. I can't ignore this. How could this be possible?
Visser Three couldn't come up with an answer to his own question.
What will the Council of Thirteen think if they find out the invasion of Earth is being jeopardized by a handful of human youth?
That question was easy to answer. Being relieved of duty. Discarded. Cast aside.
I must not let the council find out what I suspect.
Visser Three suspected the Animorphs were human? If that was true, we were all in grave danger.
And then, I saw the moment the Visser knew for sure.
An elephant threw Visser Three into the Yeerk pool.
{Now do you care if we blow up that barrel?} the elephant demanded. {Now do you care?}
Visser Three felt elation. Because now he knew for sure that at least some of the 'Andalite bandits' were human.
Because Andalites can close off their hooves to avoid absorbing something they do not wish to digest.
And if the elephant were a true Andalite, they would have known that.
But Visser Three couldn't let his glee show. He couldn't let anyone know, lest his reputation suffer.
For years, the Visser ran a smear campaign, a propaganda effort. Nobody could know the Andalite bandits were human. Especially not the council.
{So…you've discovered my little secret,} The Visser said to me. {I've waited a long time for the perfect moment to tell you. How many of you are human?}
{I'll tell you nothing, Yeerk scum.}
To Marco, Hannah, Cassie, and Rachel, I said privately, {Visser Three knows you're human.}